1. Field of the Invention
The object of the present invention relates to automatic machines which, operated by coins, tokens, cards, or the like, are capable of instantaneously preparing and dispending squeezed juices of fruits such as oranges and the like. For this purpose, these machines have a general construction which comprises means for the storing of the fruit; means for transferring the fruit to a squeezer group which, upstream of the squeezing means proper, has means for the cutting or sectioning of the pieces of fruit and subsequent means for the collecting and dispensing of the juice obtained, as well as for the disposal of the resultant solid residues (peels, rinds, seeds, etc.).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The machines which are presently known in this field are based on a rudimentary structural philosophy of incorporating the different parts by direct attachment to a frame which results in a complicated, time consuming construction which makes its mass-production difficult, is more expensive, and has a result that the maintenance work is also difficult, slow, and expensive.
On the other hand, instantaneous juice preparing machines are greatly appreciated since they make it possible to obtain freshly squeezed juice, that is to say juice in its best condition of nature and taste. However, this success in the definition of the object is substantially impaired by the imperfect healthfulness offered by the machines known up to now in this field, since their cleaning is difficult and therefore performed only randomly.
With reference to the transfer of the pieces of fruit (between the feeding means and the cutting means), in the known machines this takes place directly and exclusively by means of a descending ramp conduit, that is to say as the result of the mere action of gravity.
In these machines, there is also known the existence of portioning means intended to assure that the cutting means receive the pieces of fruit one by one. These means consist of a system of gates, the movement of which is fixed and rigidly synchronized with the actuation of the cutting means, which are of different and invariable length and generate a first compartment which is open at the front for the entrance of the cutting means, and a second compartment upstream from the former; all of this in such a manner that, in a part of the operating cycle of the machine, a piece of fruit passes through the upper gate and is retained at the lower gate (first compartment) in order, at a subsequent moment of the cycle, for said lower gate to be withdrawn and free access be granted to the cutting means.
This known device suffers from a lack of efficiency and reliability, since it is very sensitive to the difference in sizes of fruit, which may change the normal operation of the system of gates; and, since all movements are only caused by the mere passive action of gravity, there is a lack of control of the operating times, which may have the result that the piece of fruit does not reach the cutting means at the proper time with result that it is flattened by the mechanism or is cut into very unequal parts which cannot be treated suitably in the following squeezing operation, or even that the piece of fruit does not reach them at all and an empty working cycle thus results, and the user becomes impatient.
With respect to the feeder, it is known that the taking of the pieces of fruit is effected by means of a cup of inverted trapezoidal cross section which extends operatively along the first row of pieces of fruit arranged to be taken up, employing for this pairs of pins which can pass vertically between said pairs of pins of the trays while said cup is capable of turning transversely between an unturned position or position for the taking up of the pieces of fruit by said pairs of pins and another, turned, position in which the pieces of fruit occupy the bottom of the cup and in which the turning is produced passively by the mere action of gravity on the pieces of fruit, which has the result that they tend to roll towards the bottom of the cup while the ascending taking pins separate them from the bed of the tray containing them. It is also known for this tray to assume a longitudinally inclined position when it reaches the highest position of its path, which causes the pieces of fruit to roll and be delivered to the inlet of the squeezing means.
This known construction has various important drawbacks. The entrusting of the turning of the cup to the mere passive action of gravity offers little reliability or operational control since any foreseeable or accidental cause (dirt, local damage, etc.) may have the result that the proper actuation is not properly effected and then the continuing of the operation cycle constitutes a serious risk for the integrity of the machine. Moreover, the taking over of the oranges or other pieces of fruit by means of the,pins does not provide sufficient efficacy and reliability since these pins have an ascending inclination towards the point and the pieces of fruit are of variable sizes, which may combine negatively so that pieces of fruit are not collected or are pierced. And, furthermore, in these known machines, the correct carrying out of the working cycle is based on infallibility, that is to say on the supposition that nothing is going to go wrong, since there are no control means for malfunctions or damage, which is a utopian hypothesis which constitutes a serious defect in itself and which implies a worsening of the above-mentioned defects with respect to the turning by the mere action of gravity and the use of pins for the taking over of the pieces of fruit and which, finally, is not in accord with the image of complete operational control which a machine operating without any intervention of the part of the user other than the introduction of a coin, token, card, or the like, must have.
In addition, it is known that the necessary vertical displacement of the inclinable and turnable cup is effected with respect to a guide column which has its vertical lateral edges as tracks on which there are coupled grooved wheels mounted on a support to which the cup itself is movably attached. This system is not considered suitable, since it is capable of producing a displacement of the cup with longitudinal pitch which will appear with use since it is sensitive to wear between wheels and tracks, and furthermore this system is prone to derailing which may have serious results for the integrity of the machine.
It has been stated above that the justification for these machines resides in the value and esteem for the consumer of obtaining a juice which is not only prepared with natural juice but also has been freshly squeezed.
In practice, this purpose is frustrated because the known machines serve portions of juice which customarily contain leftovers from previous squeezings. This results in a failure of the description `freshly squeezed` which, on the one hand, impairs the taste, which as is known declines substantially with the time which elapses between the obtaining of the juice and its consumption; and which, on the other hand, has a negative effect on its healthfulness, since it undergoes very rapid processes of fermentation, even more so taking into account the heat liberated and accumulated within these machines. In this connection, it must be borne in mind that the time between successive servings by the machine, although variable, makes it necessary to assume that every day there will be, at least, a lapse of many hours corresponding to nighttime. As to the accumulation of heat within the machine, there is no refrigerating circuit to cool the region for the storage of the oranges; quite the contrary, since there is a large additional source of heat outside of this enclosure.
The entire problem results from the fact that, on the one hand, in these known machines, the necessary juice collecting tank is provided soleley with a level float which, when a given height is reached, stops the production of more juice and proceeds to serve the portion measured by the float; and, on the other hand, there are no timing mechanism which make it possible that the incoming juice is collected before it is served.
Therefore, the juice which, for one reason or another, remains in the tank after the serving of a portion, will be served together with the freshly squeezed juice thereby adulterating it.
Furthermore, the lack of said timing means also results in a lack of precision in the measuring of the portion received by the customer, since during the dispensing variable amounts of the oncoming juices may be included, which will depend on the moment of the squeezing operation that the order to stop is received. Furthermore, even if there were a timing means, it is not possible with this system to avoid that, before the serving, the level of the tank reach a value higher than that assigned to the mere action of the float; for example, if the float is very close to its assigned level and then the squeezing of a piece of fruit takes place, all of the juice thereof will be collected in the tank even though the float has already reached said stop level.